A Star to Light the Night
by theonlytien
Summary: Eighteen years after the end of the Second War, a new threat arises. It is up to Lily Potter, daughter of Harry Potter her brother, James and their friend, Matt, to destroy this new enemy before it destroys them. NOT DH COMPLIANT!
1. Chapter 1: ColdFire

**Disclaimer: The Harry Potter Universe is not owned by me. If it was this wouldn't be fanfiction, now would it?**

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_I look at the pieces on the board,_

_Hoping that my next move,_

_Is not another step to an early end._

_I hesitate, but make a move,_

_Ending another turn,_

_And starting another._

_"Thoughts on the Great Chessboard" Ronald Weasley_

The moon shone bright over the streets of Diagon Alley, and its twisting walkways seemed shine silver in the rain, which finally started to stop. The lamps seemed to burn with perpetual light, guiding the pedestrians to their destination. The wind howled over the usually noisy shops. What used to be filled with shopping families was now almost empty save minor villains, Aurors, and the occasional lonely shopper. The friendliness that was once found in this magical market was replaced by fear and suspicion. The shops were mostly boarded up; their owners had long abandoned them to flee the country. A small street near Knockturn Alley was littered with wanted posters of Death Eaters that had been blown off the walls by the wind.

A cloaked man and his companion appeared at the end of the street. He was a very youthful and strong man. His eyes were hazel, and had messy black hair, which was hidden within the hood of his cloak. The man traveling was a lean figure. His hair was brown and his eyes were strangely golden. While the cloaked man seemed of a serious nature, his partner was more easy-going. Despite their differences, they were the best mates. Some may have view this friendship as innocence and youthfulness, and that their adolescence protected them from the weariness and hopelessness of the war. However, those people did not realize that these children, these_ teenagers _were plotting to turn the tide of the war in their favor.

The cloaked man stopped and picked up one of the posters. On it was a man named Serverus Snape and the deeds he committed. It explained that anyone seen helping this man would be arrested on the spot for treason. The picture showed a man who looked very unstable. The cloaked man's eyes seemed to flash in anger before he set his face in a mask and gave a mirthless laugh when he scanned over the picture. His companion stopped to look at what his friend was holding. He snorted when he saw the picture from a mixture of both amusement and disgust.

"Quite an... interesting way to illustrate what he's like, isn't it Matt?" asked the cloaked man.

The other man nodded and said, "You would think the Ministry would at least try to make sure the picture of a man they want to capture acts like what the original would act like."

The cloaked man snorted. "It would be throwing insults at me and cursing my family to extinction, by now if it acted like the real thing. But sadly, the Ministry rather him look like the Inferi than have him look like the former Hogwarts potion master."

"'Tis horrible," Matt responded dramatically, "At least now no one can confuse him for the git he really is."

"True, but no one will be able to recognize him now, either. Perhaps this is another one of their 'all Death Eaters are clichéd' ideas."

"Idiots, the lot of them." the man called Matt muttered, "Ok not all of them are idiots, James, but the vast majority of them are!" he added hastily after seeing the expression on his friend's face.

The cloaked man laughed a little. "Better idiots then mad men."

The wind blew harder and James drew his cloak around him tighter. Matt shivered a little and James looked at him with concern.

"You're going to catch a cold if you keep forgetting your cloak," he said with a touch of exasperation in his tone. They had been over this many times before.

Matt shrugged. "Lily will probably have a spare when she gets here."

James snorted. "You can't rely on her forever. She is my little sister, not your mother."

"And that is exactly why I have power over her," he replied cheekily.

"Right, not mentioning the fact that she could hex you to oblivion in a duel if she heard you say that."

Matt paled a bit. And James chuckled to himself for a moment. Then he looked up into the stars, not noticing that he was crumpling the Death Eater poster in his hand. His eyes sought out all the stars he knew the names to. Vega, Sirius, Bellatrix, Rigel, Spica... He dimly registered that the sky was much clearer after the rain.

After a moment of reflective silence Matt asked solemnly, "Are we really going to do this?"

Slowly James nodded. "We have to... it could be our only hope."

"And Lily? This is a war, James. What if something happens to her?"

"I wouldn't worry about it. She's probably the strongest out of all of us."

Matt was quiet for a moment and then shrugged. "I suppose you're right. She is certainly able to hold her own, duel or other wise."

James looked back at him and grinned. "Yeah. I still remember that magical incident when she was twelve. You had made her so angry. And then..."

"She set my hair on fire, yes, yes, I remember," Matt responded laughingly. "It took three weeks for it to grow back!"

"Actually four," interjected another voice. Both men jumped and drew their wands pointing to where the source of the sound was coming from. Only, there was nothing there. The disembodied voice laughed at their expressions.

"Honestly! You two should be more cautious!" It exclaimed.

"Lils! How long were you there!" said annoyed James, as both men put their wands back in their pockets. A young woman in a cloak appeared next to him holding an invisibility cloak in her arms. She handed it to Matt and pulled the hood of her own cloak over her head hiding her raven colored hair. She rolled her brilliant, green eyes in annoyance and then turned to her brother.

"Long enough, dear brother," she answered playfully, ''Long enough." She grinned fondly at her older brother. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the poster in his hand.

"It's nothing," he muttered and tried to hide the poster.

Lily rolled her eyes again and tried to grab the paper out of his hands. "Don't play stupid, James! It's no fun trying to guess your "secrets" when you have them in the open like that! It can't be as bad as that picture I found under your bed in fourth year, can it? I mean, it's as if I'm-" she froze when she managed to wrestle the poster away from her brother and look at the picture. There was an awkward silence between the three of them. It seemed that Matt and James were waiting for some sort of explosion from her. Lily glanced up from the poster, and it looked like her face had darkened significantly for short moment. After the second passed though, her face was fixed with an amused expression and she smiled.

"I wonder how they got his picture to be like this. Who thought that hair could ever look that greasy!" She gave a laugh. Both men grinned at her, relieved that the expected explosion didn't come.

Lily shook her head in attempt to rid herself of her giggles, and looked seriously at the two of them. "Alright, enough of child's play."

James nodded and looked at Matt. "Ready?"

Matt smiled, although it seemed a little strained. "Always."

"You two know the plan, right? Knockturn Alley is a dreadful place, especially at this time of night." Lily asked.

"Don't need to tell me twice," responded Matt, a bit bitterly. James and his sister gave him a sympathetic look.

"We better get going, any longer and we might have to deal with something really nasty on our way to retrieve it." James said gravely. The other two nodded, as he drew his wand.

He took a deep breath and cast a glamour charm on himself. In a second he appeared to be a rather old man with a limp. "Lily, meet us there in a few minutes. We're going to need you to block the curses if there is a security system," he said. She nodded to him again. James looked over at Matt. Their eyes met for a brief minute and they both nodded at each other. Matt pulled the invisibility cloak over him, and before Lily knew it, she was alone on the sidewalk.

She gave a weary sigh. She hated days like these. Stupid days where they had to act like adults. Sure, on the outside she seemed childish enough. Happy-go-lucky, as Matt would call it. But her family deserved not to see her worry or fear or those other stupid things, and they deserved to see more than the shy indifference she showed to the people she didn't know or didn't trust. They were her family after all. Well, Matt wasn't technically her family, but it was close enough. Anyways they had more important things to worry about.

Lily looked down at the poster in her hand, and felt the heat of raw anger boil in the pit of her stomach, but it slowly diminished to a dull ache in her heart. Another man corrupted by blind faith. Another man lost in the heat of the war. Another man who had lost it all. The terrors she had seen flashed before her eyes. It would be easy to blame everything on him, but she couldn't. It went against her nature. _Damn it, Dad_. She thought, _Why do you have to be so bloody noble, and then past all those ideals on to me?_

She felt the familiar tingle at the edge of her fingertips that was begging to be released. She had a very strong urge to hurt something, to share with something a fragment of the pain she kept locked inside her. She looked to the sky and looked at the stars. Her eyes traced the patterns of the friendly constellations that dotted the night. It was a technique Uncle Moony taught her when she was younger. It was strangely, calming.

_Those you love never leave you, Lily. They're all up there watching over us._

Lily took a deep breath and looked down to the picture she held. She was being stupid. Now was not the time for such things. She sighed at her ridiculous urge to burn the picture she had in her hand. Snape was just a marionette under the control of a puppeteer, as was everyone else. Nothing could change that. It was a mere game of chess to his master. It was just another way to pull the strings, to move the pawns. It was war. What else did she expect? All she could do was make her way along this game of fate and hope that she wasn't captured. That was all you could do in war anyway, or so she learned.

She glanced at her watch and blinked at it. It was time. She pulled at the hood, making sure it hid her face and turned towards Knockturn Alley. Before she left, however, she paused. She drew her wand and moved it over her shoulder in a strange, yet practiced pattern and kept the other hand griping the poster tightly. She focused on the strange tingling in the fingertips of both her hands and whispered, "_Gelidus Flamma._"

Lily gave a satisfied smile and let the wind take the poster from her hand. She watched it float behind her for a minute before she turned and left for Knockturn Alley. If she couldn't get out of the game, she thought as she walked silently, she could at least make sure she wasn't a pawn.

Behind her, the poster of Serverus Snape slowly dissolved into a bluish dust. It, along with the with the other posters of former Death Eaters, were burning in the strange, icy flame. "Cold fire", James had christened it. Passionate, yet fearful, many had believed there was no such spell. "It is believed to be the fire of Hades, himself. Dark Magic", Matt had once read in a book, "highly dangerous, because there is no way to extinguish it, other than the caster canceling the spell." Yet, as the blue flames burned over the parchment that littered the ground, turning the paper into to an delicate, icy pile of dust, no one could argue that it wasn't beautiful. As the flames disappeared, they left a chill, a small bit of sadness of a childhood lost, a bitterness of another happy ending destroyed in the midst of another war.

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**A/N: Ok the term Gelidus Flamma was found by me in the Latin Dictionary (Ah, google is a great friend). It literally means icy (Gelidus) flame (flamma, obviously). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my first chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2: Wrongs for Right

**Disclaimer: Sorry, J.K. Rowling is not one of my aliases, so I don't own the Potterverse**

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_Things aren't always in black and white,_

_Nothing can be described as an easy way or a hard way,_

_Sometimes wrongs are done in the name of good,_

_And good deeds for evil intent._

_Nothing is ever fair,_

_And everything comes with a price._

_"Shades of Grey" – Severus Snape_

Lily leaned against the wall outside Borign and Burkes, frowning slightly as she stared at the stars. Another shiver ran down her spine as flashes of fire dotted her vision. 'Bloody dementors' she thought angrily. The night was abnormally cold. The dementors had, once again, found a new master. When her father found out that they had left Azkaban, he (along with Uncle Ron) spent the whole week abusing Minister Scrimigour when they thought the children weren't around. Lily had learned many new (if somewhat vulgar) ways to express dislike for a person that week. Afterwards, her dad had started to hunt down former Death Eaters, gathering the Order, and trying to help as many people as possible.

She feared that her dad overworked himself. In fact, she believed that both her parents overworked themselves. Mum would spend endless hours at St. Mungos trying to save the lives of people, or making them more comfortable as they died. She would always end up going home late with a sad expression on her face, and on more than one occasion Lily had caught her sobbing in the middle of the night with Dad trying to offer her some comfort.

Another wave of coldness snapped her attention out of her thoughts. She pulled her cloak tighter around her body even though she knew it couldn't protect her from the chill.

"Look at the stars, look at the stars, look at the stars..." she muttered softly to herself.

"Lils!" whispered an urgent voice in her ear. She jumped drew her wand and pointed it straight at space beside her.

"Lily! Calm down! It's Matt," said the panicked voice. Matt removed the hood of his cloak so Lily could see who was beside her before placing it back on his head.

Lily let out the breath she was going to use to curse the voice with.

"You prat! I could've killed you," she whispered at him angrily, "What are you doing out here anyway? Aren't you-?"

"I found it," he said, cutting off her rant, "And James is about done. Borgin is asking for a fortune, so I'm thinking we're going to use plan B."

Lily snorted. "I told you so, didn't I?" She glanced around. "Anything close?"

Matt sniffed the air and grimaced slightly before responding. "Just Borgin... and a few dementors are around somewhere."

"Obviously," she muttered sarcastically as more fire flashed before her eyes.

Matt heard her and looked at her for a second. "Only a little while longer and then we're out of here," he said softly.

"I'm fine," she whispered back irritably. Matt cocked an eyebrow her, although she couldn't see him. Then he spoke, "I know you can feel them before James and me."

"I'm fine, Matt."

Matt shook his head, "It's okay for you to be scared, Lils."

Before Lily could respond, James walked out of the shop and into the alley beside it. Lily got off the wall and followed him, making sure the cloak hid her face. Matt swore he heard her sigh and mutter something like "No, it's not" under her breath, but he wasn't sure. He shook his head and followed Lily and James into the alley.

* * *

James was not in a good mood. Borgin wasn't the most pleasant person to talk to, especially when you are trying to buy one of his more... personal items. He removed his glamour charms while continually cursing under his breath.

"Stupid man... probably doesn't even know what the bloody thing does."

"Granted we don't really know what it does either," interjected Matt's voice. The cloaked figure of his sister walked up to him and leaned against one of the alley walls. Matt appeared beside her with the cloak in his arms.

"We know more than he does, in any case," Lily said in that matter-of-fact way she picked up from Aunt Hermione, "So where is it, Matt?"

Matt sniffed the air once again, and then sneezed. "Did you know there's a shop that sells body parts about a hundred meters that way?" He pointed in a completely opposite direction. Lily and James both raised an eyebrow. "It's messing with my sense of smell, not to mention that I want to gag every time I breathe. It's best that I go in alone while Lily holds the wards open. James you have to keep watch over her."

James nodded and Lily stood up straight and faced the wall that was apart of Borgin and Burkes. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"Ready, then?" Both men nodded although they knew she couldn't see them do it.

Lily's eyes snapped open. They were glowing an eerie green color. Her hand was tracing out an invisible rune, before she pressed her palm in the center of it. The rune became visible, and then flashed a bright blue before disintegrating into thin air. Lily's hand was now glowing the same color as her eyes were and she held it against the wall, not moving her eyes from the area in front of her.

"I've disabled the wards around the back so you can go in through there. Also the alarm system around it is under my control, but not the magic sensors, so no magic. You have about fifteen minutes before I have to drop it or face magical exhaustion." Both James and Matt's eyes widened. Lily gave them a wry smile. "You have no idea how much dark magic is in these wards, so I suggest you go before I collapse."

* * *

Matt muttered darkly under his breath as he picked up the metallic scent of blood, bringing back particularly gruesome memories of battles that he had been caught in. One of that reasons he hated Knockturn Alley was the stupid human body part shop that was right in the middle of the area. One of these days, he was going to burn the bloody shop to the ground and then find the owner and kill him because he most likely was a Death Eater (not to mention anyone who actually owns a body part shop must be Dark or extremely mental).

He still remembered the first time he walked past the Alley. He was six and he couldn't quite control the enhanced sense of smell yet. He walked right by the Alley and got a full whiff of the shop, even though it was blocks away, and vomited on the spot. Not a very pleasant first experience for a not so pleasant area. It was better than most of his other experiences with the place at least, although that wasn't saying much.

He snuck past the staircase that lead up to Borgin's room. He almost wandered up there when James was distracting the old man. It was obvious that the man had Dark items and a raid the flat above his shop would most likely show exactly how many Dark Artifacts he had in his shop and how many items he sold, which would lead to the Ministry putting him in Azkaban (for all the good that would do). Of course that also meant that the stairs going up to the rooms were heavily warded.

Matt entered the back room and sniffed the air. He held back his normal gag reflex and cocked his head to the side in a very canine like way as he tried to determine the different scents of area. He frowned and tried again, trying to block out that blood and decay smell, and determined there was a lot of dust in the room. He let out a soft frustrated growl. He was sure that he smelt it when he was here with James. Matt closed his eyes and focused on the room. When James was in here he had attempted to keep his distance by walking around the back of the shop. He was walking by the curtain when he caught a faint whiff of ... the curtain!

He almost slapped his forehead. Of course the curtain had scent dampening charms on them. He rushed to the curtain and tore it open. His eyes widened slightly as he saw jets of light headed in his direction, before he ducked, cursing himself for his carelessness. He heard the dull sound of footsteps on the ceiling above him and let out another stream of curses. It looked like Borgin was awake after all. He quickly dodged another jet of red light.

_Nice security system _he thought absently _based on muggle technology and not the magical warding system. Very clever. Who would have thought that such a pure-blood supremacist would rely on muggle ideals?_

He quickly ran to retrieve a box that was positively reeking with the smell of the object he was looking for. The dull sound of footsteps had reached the stairs and Matt nearly panicked. There was no way of getting out without being seen by Borgin unless…

Matt looked at the small window almost behind a shelf. It would be a tight fit and he would be left open to the curses the security system was firing. He sighed silently, as he reached for his wand. He had to use magic, there was no other way.

"_Protego_!" he whispered and a magical shield appeared just as another jet of red light was about to hit him. He ran to the window box in hand, calculating how much time he had until Borgin enter the room or his shield ran out of power. He jumped up grabbed the ledge and quickly hauled himself up. It was a tight fit, but a little bit of wriggling and he managed to make it out just as Borgin entered the room and his shield flickered out of existence. He sighed in relief. He rounded the corner to where James and Lily were standing.

James tapped Lily on the shoulder. Lily dropped her hand and turned to him.

"Got it?" she asked, tiredly.

Matt nodded and she smiled.

"That's good," she muttered, before fainting.

James managed to catch her and shook his head at his stubborn sister.

"She's exhausted."

"So am I," Matt said.

James rolled his eyes at Matt.

"Let's go home" he said, "Before those dementors find us."

Matt grinned. "Yeah, home."

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**A/N: My case of writer's block has offically been cured. Hooray! Now if only I could work on those Literary Analysis papers for English. Bah! Plays are must less enjoyable if you analyze it to death. **

**Lily is able to control warding systems, who knew? XD Yay, bad habits.**

**Anyways, hoped you enjoyed it! Please, R&R. **


	3. Chapter 3: Memories and Murmurs

**A/N: Yay! For the win Chapter Three! I don't really know what to say about it... so yay**

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_It is unfair to place our future in such small hands,_

_Yet we do anyway._

_It is unfair to expect such innocence to fight,_

_And come home unscathed, and still pure._

_It is unfair,_

_But it is necessary._

"_Unfairness" Albus Dumbledore_

Lily was sitting quietly at the table staring at her oatmeal, lost in thought. She was tired and definitely did not want to get out of bed that morning. Uncle Moony and Aunt Tonks had found out about their little excursion (or at least the part that didn't include stealing from a shop in Knockturn Alley). Lily sighed as she remembered the encounter when they got home.

**Flashback**

_Lily awoke just as they arrived at Number Twelve Grimmaud Place. She looked blearily around. A voice above her chuckled and she looked up._

"_Looks like sleeping beauty decided to wake up," taunted James. Lily glared at him and opened her mouth to give an angry retort, but was stopped when she saw Matt put a finger to his lips signaling for quiet, Lily settled for smacking her brother lightly in the chest, promising more pain later with her eyes. James rolled his eyes and gently put Lily down. She wobbled a bit, but managed to stay upright. He handed the small box to Lily and she slipped it in her robes. _

_Matt took a deep breath and opened the door. He peered in and grinned back at Lily and James. They weren't going to get caught._

"_I think we made it!" he whispered, cheerfully. They crept into the hall, turned to the stairs. Matt stopped suddenly and his eyes widened in fear._

"_Oh, shit…" he whispered. Lily was behind him and bumped into his back._

"_Matt what- "she leaned her head and peered over his shoulder, "Oh…dear…"_

_James shifted uncomfortably behind her and laughed a little nervously._

"_Heh…hello, Aunt Tonks." He said, looking more than a little scared. Lily slapped her forehead in exasperation. Then, looking up at her almost Aunt, she gave a weak wave and a smile that she hoped defused her anger instead of adding to it. Matt was still stiff with fear._

"_You, three," started Nymphadora "Tonks" Lupin in a dangerous whisper that was gradually growing louder (apparently the smile didn't work), "have, no idea how much trouble you are in!"_

_All three teenagers cringed._

"_At least she hasn't done the full name thing…" mumbled James under his breath._

"_Matthias John Lupin! You get your arse into the drawing room right now before I hex you into the next century! You, too, James, Lily!" shrieked Mrs. Lupin . _

"_You were saying?" mumbled Matt dejectedly as they walked to drawing room to face what would be a very long shouting match._

**End Flashback**

Needless to say, their welcome home hadn't been very pretty.

At least the box they had stolen was hidden upstairs in her room. If her Aunt and Uncle found out about that, well, she really wouldn't know what their reaction would be. She gave another long sigh.

It was entirely the stupid letter's fault. Honestly, who would entrust a teenage girl with a letter that could save the fate of the Wizarding World and expect her to believe a word in it? Apparently this person would, which lead her to believe that this person was incredibly insane... which lead her to believe she was losing her mind for actually going along with it.

She should have burned the damned thing, and she would have, if James and Matt hadn't found it before she could. She couldn't say no to Matt and James. Anyway, if it was a letter from the deceased Albus Dumbledore (and yes it really was from him; she used a charm to check its validity… multiple times), she had to do what he said. Why? Because the old goat was a master manipulator, and even in his death he has felt the need to meddle. Not to mention she had a great respect for him, and she felt indebted to him.

The only thing that confused her was why her? Why not her father, or someone in the Order? It just didn't make any sense. Sure, she could see magic, but only when she wanted to drain herself. She barely even knew how to use it herself. Other than that ability, she was just your average sixteen year old girl.

She stirred her oatmeal around, absently. Maybe it was because her father was the great Harry Potter. Maybe, because she would be the least likely candidate for such a mission. Who would expect an innocent girl to hold the salvation of the world in her hands? Surely, not she and definitely not Sir Noir and his followers.

Or maybe Albus Dumbledore was insane.

Lily wouldn't be surprised. When Lily first met him, she was four. He was nice enough and Dad was…civil to him. He seemed very interested in her abilities, and she almost could have liked him, but there was always something nagging at the back of her mind. She found out what that something was later, after he asked Dad to lead an almost suicidal mission. It was obvious that the former leader of the Order, though kind, was, indeed, a puppet master. How else could he get Dad to risk his life like that, in spite of his family's wishes? At least he wasn't a corrupt puppet master, like Sir Noir was. But, there was one thing about puppet masters that she had learned in her years at Hogwarts. Either they were corrupt and powerful or insane and powerful. She was hoping that Dumbledore was the latter and not the former.

Not that she didn't trust the man. She did. He was the reason why most of her family was still alive. She just wasn't sure WHY he trusted her so much. She was only a teenager for Merlin's sake. She also didn't know why she was following through with what was said in the letter. It annoyed her that she would rush into something on blind faith.

"Lily," said a calm voice to her left. She blinked as the voice dispersed her thoughts. Uncle Moony was staring at her searchingly.

"You've been staring into space for well over ten minutes," he said, looking a little worried.

Lily gave him a sheepish smile, "Sorry, just a little tired, I guess." Yes, she was lying through her teeth, but Uncle Moony didn't need to know where her thoughts were at the moment.

"I'm not surprised, you were up until three in the morning if I recall," he said, nonchalantly, returning to the paper in his hand. 

Lily cringed at the reminder of her night. She was about to open her mouth to defend herself (most likely with a weak argument), when her brother and his best friend walked in and saved her from embarrassment. She smirked at their disheveled state.

"Morning, you two," she started cheerfully, "rough night?"

They glared at her, but she really had the right to mock them. They shouldn't have dragged her out in the middle of the night on half planed scheme in the first place. Anyways, it was her duty as a little sister and morning person to annoy them.

She smiled brightly at the glares and Uncle Moony chuckled at her antics. James grunted as sat down heavily at the table and placed his head in his arms. Matt gave a huge yawn and was blindly reaching for his daily cup of tea. Lily sighed and shook her head at the two as she pushed Matt's teacup in his hand. She guessed after the shouting his mother gave him and the stern reprimand he received from his father he deserved a break. Luckily, his father wasn't one to hold grudges and he usually never shouted. Unluckily, his mother was. Thankfully, she wasn't up at the moment, so the gates of hell hadn't opened quite yet.

Matt and James were slowly starting to awaken completely, when Uncle Remus heard a tapping at the window. He looked over to see a snowy white owl pecking insistently on the glass. Lily noticed it a few seconds later and sighed for what seemed to be the thousandth time this morning (her father swore it was a phase).

Uncle Moony calmly walked over to the window and opened it for the owl, which immediately dropped a letter in Lily's plate and a red envelope on James head, before settling on the back of Uncle Moony's chair. Lily opened her letter and began to read it as James reached up and grabbed the envelope on his head. When he looked to see what it was he paled dramatically.

"Oh bloody hell," he cursed as the letter started to smoke slightly. He quickly held it arms length from him and ripped it open, then ducked under the table as the Howler exploded.

"**JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU LEFT THE HOUSE? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KISSED! YOUR SISTER COULD HAVE BEEN HURT! I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU THOUGHT OF WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE BEEN THROUGH SINCE WE HEARD YOU WERE MISSING. YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET A HOLD OF YOU! YOU'RE GROUNDED UNTIL WE COME BACK AND FIND A SUITABLE PUNISHMENT FOR YOUR APPALING LACK OF JUDGEMENT!"**

Lily blinked a few times once it was done, before moving her eyes back to her own letter. There was a moment of silence as James and Matt tried to regain their sense of hearing. Uncle Remus was looking very amused. Lily broke the silence with another sigh.

"At least Dad was a bit more subtle about it," she muttered, passing the letter to James, "But he still resorted to capital letters in the end." She shared a look with her brother that seemed to be almost mournful. Uncle Moony began to chuckle at their misery.

"Sadist," muttered Lily under her breath, which caused Uncle Remus to laugh even more. Lily was glaring at her Uncle, when she noticed the front page of the paper. 

"Isn't that the Dark Mark?" she asked looking confused. She remembered reading about it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, a book Aunt Hermione recommended. Uncle Remus stopped laughing abruptly and looked at Lily.

"How did you know about the Dark Mark?" he asked.

Lily shrugged. "Read about it."

Uncle Moony still kept frowning, but said, "It isn't. More like a modified version of it. Most likely Sir Noir thought it would cause chaos and terror."

"Are you sure it's Noir's idea?" asked James, peering curiously at the picture.

Lily frowned. Sir Noir, a megalomaniac that nearly rivaled Voldemort, had been terrorizing the country for the past three years. Lily's best friend, Lucy White, had died right in front of her eyes two years ago in an attack on Hogsmead. Lily was reminded of the attack every time she saw a dementor. 

"Who else could it be, James? It's not like we need another madman to terrorize the countryside," asked Lily, still frowning. James shrugged.

"Some practical jokers?"

"Some joke…" muttered Matt. 

"Chances are it was Noir. Many still shudder at Voldemort's name, so there is no way people could use this as a practical joke," stated Lily matter-of-factorily.

"The question is," said Matt, "is what does Noir gain from shooting the Dark Mark in the sky?"

"Widespread panic and fear, of course," said Uncle Moony, "It reminds people of darkness of Voldemort's time. Noir could also start recruiting old Death Eaters as well. Or, so I assume was his objective."

The table lapsed into a heavy silence, each person pondering his or her own thoughts. James broke it with a sigh.

"Come on! It's too early to be thinking about war," he said, cheerfully, "It's been ages since we been outside and I, for one, need to get Quidditch practice before we get back to school."

Matt grinned at his friend. "I'll get the brooms." They both began to walk out of the kitchen, while Lily rolled her eyes and counted backwards from five.

_Four…Three...Two..._

"Boys, I hope you realize you're both grounded, in both meanings of the word," Uncle Moony shouted, "You are to degnome the garden and help your mother clean out the attic, as punishment for your little stunt last night." Lily heard simultaneous groans and she let out a giggle. 

"Lily, I hope you know that your joining them." Lily's amusement disappeared off her face as she sighed resignedly and stood to walk out to the garden. She really should have stayed in bed.

* * *

**A/N: I guess this story is kind of back in business. Don't look for frequent updates though... I'm really, really busy now that we are so close to Spring Break (woot!). It may be a while before I get back to this story.**_  
_

**Anyways, hoped you enjoyed it. R&R**


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